BAN THE BOMB

WHY BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS: ABOLISH THEM!

To roll back the rising waves of military nuclearization (nuclear weaponization) and nuclear proliferation, five nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZs) have been established:

(1) The Treaty of Tlatelolco, also known as the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, effective since 22 April 1968, for blocking military nuclearization in the region and binding all 33 nations in the world’s fourth largest continent.

(2) The Treaty of Rarotonga for the South Pacific NWFZ, effective from 11 December 1986, for 13 states (not all) in Australasia, including Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

(3) The Treaty of Bangkok for the Southeast Asia NWFZ, in force since 28 March 1997, for the 10 ASEAN countries.

(4) The Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) in Central Asia (CANWFZ), effective on 21 March 2009 for five states, including Kazakhstan once in possession of a formidable nuclear arsenal.

(5) The Pelindaba Treaty for Africa NWFZ, in force since 15 July 2009, for all the 53 African nations in the world’s second largest continent after Asia.

Of yet greater significance for global nuclear disarmament, military denuclearization (destruction of nuclear weapons) has so far been completed in four countries: South Africa in 1990, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus following the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.

Marking the closure of the Cold War, South Africa’s President Frederick Willem de Klerk ordered in February 1990 the dismantling of the country’s incipient nuclear arsenal, and destruction of its handful of small atomic bombs.

In 1991 Ukraine had the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal, with 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and 1,240 nuclear warheads.

In 1991 Kazakhstan had the world’s fourth largest nuclear arsenal, which was equivalent to the combined nuclear forces of Britain, France, and China. Kazakhstan had 104 of the world’s most powerful ICBM, known as the SS-18 (Satan), each of which armed with 10 x 550 kiloton nuclear warheads.

Way back in 1978 (when there were more than 50,000 nuclear warheads in the world, three times the number of nukes in 2018), the United Nations stated at the first special session of the UN General Assembly on disarmament:

“... Mankind today is confronted with an unprecedented threat of self-extinction arising from the massive and competitive accumulation of the most destructive weapons ever produced… we must halt the arms race and proceed to disarmament or face annihilation.”

On 3 March 2016 the five Pacific island states of Fiji, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, and Tuvalu submitted a working paper  “Elements for a treaty banning nuclear weapons”, for consideration by the UN General Assembly.

The High-5 stated in Introduction: “Nuclear weapons pose a unique existential threat to all humanity. No nation is invulnerable to their catastrophic, far-reaching and long-lasting effects. Thus, every nation, whether nuclear-free or nuclear-armed, small or large, has a direct interest in realizing a world without these indiscriminate, inhumane weapons…”

They concluded: “… As States in a region that has suffered greatly from devastating humanitarian consequences of nuclear testing (some 300 nuclear test explosions from 1946 to 1996), we are firmly committed to a global ban on nuclear weapons.”

Led by the nine vanguard nations of Austria, Brazil, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, and Thailand, 122 nations (63%, or nearly two-thirds, of the UN membership) voted on 7 July 2017 for the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) aka the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty. Only the Netherlands voted against, and Singapore abstained.

The TPNW is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons and to eventually eliminate all of them. 50 signatory nations have to ratify it into force.

As many as 51 states signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on 20 September 2017, the first day of signing at the 72^nd UN General Assembly in New York.

When Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman signed the treaty, Wisma Putra in Kuala Lumpur issued a statement, saying: “… It is hoped that the political and legal import of this treaty will provide the much needed direction for further initiatives aimed at the elimination of nuclear weapons and the maintenance of a world free of nuclear weapons.”

So far 57 states have signed the TPNW, the latest being Kazakhstan on 2 March 2018.

Seven signatories have ratified the treaty: Guyana (South America), the Holy See, and Thailand on the very first day of signing on 20 September 2017, Mexico (16 January 2018), Cuba (30 January 2018), Palestine (22 March 2018), and Venezuela (27 March 2018).

Of the signatory countries in the designated NWFZs, 17 (with 3 ratifications) are from Latin America and the Caribbean, 16 from Africa, 7 Pacific, 6 ASEAN (including 1 ratification), and 1 Central Asia.

Five from Europe: the Holy See (ratified on the first day of signing), Austria, Ireland, Liechlenstein, and San Marino.

About half of the signatories have small populations, particularly those in the Pacific, Central America and the Caribbean, and a sprinkling over Africa. Small but spunky states, with a strong passion for total nuclear disarmament.

Banning all nuclear weapons must, moreover, lead to their complete abolition -- essentially to denuclearize the world’s militaries as well as to free humanity and civilization from the threat of nuclear annihilation.